BBC undertaking “open source” documentary on Web

November 29th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 29 November 2009

The BBC has a new intiative underway with the working title Digital Revolution.. They are in process of producing a new four part documentary about how the Web is transforming the world and they intend to open up as much of the production process as possible. It’s an interesting idea with some similarities to offering an interested audience drafts and pre-prints for comments but also with some echoes of the Domesday Project in which the BBC was a key partner. The content for the Domesday Project was a mixture of the professional and the amateur and it is reputed to have involved ~ 1,000,000 UK participants. The Domesday Project also provided an early example of how rapidly obsolete technologies can strand data in techno-islands that within a few years can be very difficult to reach. Further information about Digital Revolution can be found in the “about” section of the BBC site.

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Pebbles crack boulders?

November 20th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 21 November 2009

Here’s a reflective activity. If you dear reader haven’t done so then read the following in the order suggested (the really motivated can also follow the embedded hyperlinks 🙂

  1. Digital Britain report published – read carefully (Auricle, 21 June 2009)
  2. ‘Ooooo’ comes after ‘Eeee’? (Auricle, 24 & 25 June 2009)
  3. Higher Education Framework Published (Auricle, 4 November 2009)

    4. Reading the above should now have helped establish a framework for reading Charles Leadbeater’s

  4. The Digital Revolution: the Coming Crisis of the Creative Class (PDF)

Whether you always agree with him or not Charles Leadbeater is certainly perceived as a “thought leader” with a particular focus on

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My mind is going, going, gone … oh no it hasn’t

November 14th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 14 November 2009

Here’s definitely one for my techno-dysfunctions category.

At 18m 30s into The World’s technology podcast 263 there was an interesting interview with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger about his book Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age (Princeton University Press, 2009). The Princeton Press site also offers a link to a separate podcast on the same topic, this time produced by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Mayer-Schönberger offers an interesting analysis of the consequences of digital “memories” that should sometimes be allowed to fade and the unexpected consequences if they do not.

For the more visually inclined the Berkman Center has also produced a video from a presentation given by Mayer-Schönberger on 7 October 2009.

Other videos offered by the Berkman Center on YouTube also offer valuable food for thought on a wide range of topics that should be interest to all students of the digital world we are now beginning to try and inhabit.

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Quote: Beyond Google?

November 13th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 12 November 2009

“Sometimes we don’t just want to see what’s at the top of the haystack but the needle that is buried somewhere inside that no one has linked to.”
Victor Keegan (Why I’m searching beyond Google, Guardian, 11 November 2009)

Keegan offers a number of useful insights in this article but my opening quote should perhaps become a mantra for anyone working in higher education.

The vast majority of normal mortals working on building search into their web tools or applications should perhaps eschew any secret custom Google busting aspirations they may harbour. It would probably be more appropriate to utilise/enhance the open-source search engines that Keegan highlights or interface with those existing solutions that offer a doorway.

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Byteing stories to death

November 5th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 5 November 2009)

One for my techno-dysfunctions category of posts. There is an interesting little piece in today’s Times by Ben Macintyre (who always tells a good story) called The internet is killing storytelling (Times, 5 November 2009). His title and narrative will speak for itself.

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Higher Education Framework published

November 4th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, first posted 4 November 2009 updated 5 & 17 November 2009

N.B. The views expressed in this posting are the product of this author alone and should not be construed as necessarily representing the views of any other individual or organisation.

"Higher Ambitions" cover

Lord Peter Mandelson’s super-ministry the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) published its long trailed new framework for higher education yesterday under the title Higher Ambitions. Others will highlight different aspects of this long report but I was particularly looking for any references to the equally long trailed online learning focus of earlier BIS announcements, e.g. ‘0oooo’ comes after ‘Eeee’? (Auricle, 24 June 2009).

So what conceptual bites (bytes) are in there? For the purposes of this posting I’ve focused mainly but not exclusively on the ‘e’ aspects.

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Google as the digital ‘Library of Alexandria’?

November 3rd, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 3 November 2009

There’s an interesting On the Media item called The Infinite Shelf (27 March 2009) about Google’s vision of creating the digital equivalent of the Library of Alexandria. I think it’s well worth listening to the MP3 download of this interview with Harvard’s Robert Darnton author of Google & the Future of Books (The New York Review of Books, 12 February 2009). From my perspective podcasts/transcripts such as this can provide excellent stimulus material for discussion with colleagues and – or – students.

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The World does the Google Generation

October 25th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 25 October 2009

The BBC has many irons in many fires but one of its more understated initiatives is The World which is a collabration with WGBH Boston and the US PRI.

TheWorld

The World also produces a technology podcast which quite frequently contains some gem informed by scholarly work. Such was the technology podcast of 25 June 2009 which contained an interesting ~7 minute item on the Google Generation. The item starts about 13:00 minutes into the podcast and lasts until the sign off.

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Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research Themes, Methods and Impact on Practice

October 16th, 2009 No Comments

by Derek Morrison, 16 October 2009

As a follow on to my posting JISC eBooks and Google Generation podcasts (Auricle, 15 October 2009) I note that Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research Themes, Methods and Impact on Practice (Grainne Conole and Martin Oliver – Eds) is now available, in the US at least, as an ebook (Kindle edition) for much the same price as the paperback version.

Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research (2007)

Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research (2007)

While, undoubtedly still a “must read” for those with an interest in what technologies bring to learning and teaching, I note that the hardback version is an eye watering £89 which is unlikely to stimulate mass take-up of that format. I imagine the latter purchases are destined for the reserve collections in university libraries.

Because ebooks seem set to become important vehicles for such scholarly works the availablity of Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research Themes, Methods and Impact on Practice as an ebook is to be welcomed. Ebooks, however, still have multiple stages of evolution to go through. Each of the current offerings have their own affordances and constraints. In the Kindles’ case its proprietary ebook format and the ability for Amazon central to delete purchased (or is that rented?) volumes are non trivial issues.

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JISC eBooks and Google Generation podcasts

October 15th, 2009 No Comments

JISC offers a growing archive of podcasts.

The 15 September 2009 podcast e-Books provide ‘safety valve’ for librarians caught my eye (and ears). Those interested in how ebooks may impact on scholarly information sharing and dissemination may find the findings of the underlying research by the National E-Books Observatory Project most interesting.

JISC podcast about the National e-books Observatory Project report.

JISC podcast about the National e-books Observatory Project report.

Key points of interest for me were:

  • 26 titles and ~50,000 users.
  • Digital environment and media facilitates this type of research, e.g. the deep log analysis employed in the study is not possible with analogue media. Consequently, we know remarkably little about how traditional analogue books are being used.
  • Power browsing – in and out – short session times – checking facts and references – not reading longitudinally, dipping in and out core materials.
  • Researchers suspect print and ebooks were being used in complementary ways.
  • Usage peaks and troughs with particularly impact on short loan collections (precipitated by exams, modules?)
  • Librarians also perceiving ebooks as supplementary.
  • Potential additional revenue stream for publishers and not threat to their income.

The relative paucity of information about how people read analogue scholarly texts (and the difficulty of finding out) does raise the question of whether the user behaviours are digital specific or whether what is being uncovered is what has actually been the norm even in the analogue world, i.e. users (students and academics) have always “power browsed” no matter the medium; it’s just doesn’t do their scholarly street cred any good to admit it. Thus questionnaires are unlikely to establish whether this is the case. Covert observational studies would be too labour intensive and hidden cameras at strategic points would be ethically unacceptable. So I look forward to seeing how the Observatory Project meets that challenge.

Phase 1 of the report is available from the National E-Books Observatory Project web site.

Other podcasts of note in the JISC series include ‘The Google Generation’ – myth or reality? (18 January 2008).

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